Drexel or Syracuse?

uvabro wrote:I think once was enough. If somebody is going to get ripped off by these places, isn't it better it's OP and not someone sitting on the wait list? Ya'll don't change the world. Someone doesn't go so then someone else does go. Why not let it be the special snowflakes that all go rather than the uninformed consumer.

This is actually a really good point. OP is sacrificing himself to save others from Drexel. It could even be considered a bit heroic.

uvabro wrote:I think once was enough. If somebody is going to get ripped off by these places, isn't it better it's OP and not someone sitting on the wait list? Ya'll don't change the world. Someone doesn't go so then someone else does go. Why not let it be the special snowflakes that all go rather than the uninformed consumer.

This is actually a really good point. OP is sacrificing himself to save others from Drexel. It could even be considered a bit heroic.

Yes, Drexel is still TTT and getting a degree from any TTT leads to questionable job prospects in any city, but a partner at Reed Smith in Philadelphia told me that Drexel is doing all the right things for a new school and is getting somewhere. He has hired Drexel grads and says that their people meet with his people fairly regularly for job placement purposes. I don't know anything about Syracuse, maybe they do the same thing. If you want to work in Philadelphia, Drexel might not be a bad idea. I'm considering them too because they're giving me a lot of money. Good luck to you!

uvabro wrote:I think once was enough. If somebody is going to get ripped off by these places, isn't it better it's OP and not someone sitting on the wait list? Ya'll don't change the world. Someone doesn't go so then someone else does go. Why not let it be the special snowflakes that all go rather than the uninformed consumer.

This is actually a really good point. OP is sacrificing himself to save others from Drexel. It could even be considered a bit heroic.

uvabro wrote:I think once was enough. If somebody is going to get ripped off by these places, isn't it better it's OP and not someone sitting on the wait list? Ya'll don't change the world. Someone doesn't go so then someone else does go. Why not let it be the special snowflakes that all go rather than the uninformed consumer.

This is actually a really good point. OP is sacrificing himself to save others from Drexel. It could even be considered a bit heroic.

+1

I disagree that anyone deserves to be ripped off. I see the problem as created by years of false employment stats that need to be overcome. I think that people are leaning toward filing ethics complaints against these deans. Their greed created this situation and they have feed off the student loan money for decades.

Some people don't react well to being told that what they are doing is stupid. One girl told me once that I had no business destroying someone else's dream. Not everyone who comes to TLS has a clue about reality. Even those who do, often seem determined to resist the truth. See the thread of people going to American this year, for exampl. Then there is the argument that people have no other option and they won't be worse off by going deeply into debt for law school. There is a sense of desperation sometimes. This is difficult to overcome.

I guess I'm saying don't give up trying to convince people they may be ruining their life.

lablankita wrote:Yes, Drexel is still TTT and getting a degree from any TTT leads to questionable job prospects in any city, but a partner at Reed Smith in Philadelphia told me that Drexel is doing all the right things for a new school and is getting somewhere. He has hired Drexel grads and says that their people meet with his people fairly regularly for job placement purposes. I don't know anything about Syracuse, maybe they do the same thing. If you want to work in Philadelphia, Drexel might not be a bad idea. I'm considering them too because they're giving me a lot of money. Good luck to you!

Seriously? Two people? No biglaw partner is going to tell you to stay away from a school because it sucks. They don't give a shit whether you go and get yourself 200K in debt or not. Reed Smith, Dechert, or any of the other big Philly firms are not hiring outside the top 5% of Drexel.

That Drexel is doing everything "right" for a new school is exactly the problem. It's charging obscene amount of money, chasing the USNWR dragon, all for hopes that biglaw and A3 clerkships might hire five of their grads per year while 90% of the class languishes. They should charge 10K per year and train lawyers to work at Philly DA, public defender, or at small firms.

lablankita wrote:Yes, Drexel is still TTT and getting a degree from any TTT leads to questionable job prospects in any city, but a partner at Reed Smith in Philadelphia told me that Drexel is doing all the right things for a new school and is getting somewhere. He has hired Drexel grads and says that their people meet with his people fairly regularly for job placement purposes. I don't know anything about Syracuse, maybe they do the same thing. If you want to work in Philadelphia, Drexel might not be a bad idea. I'm considering them too because they're giving me a lot of money. Good luck to you!

Seriously? Two people? No biglaw partner is going to tell you to stay away from a school because it sucks. They don't give a shit whether you go and get yourself 200K in debt or not. Reed Smith, Dechert, or any of the other big Philly firms are not hiring outside the top 5% of Drexel.

That Drexel is doing everything "right" for a new school is exactly the problem. It's charging obscene amount of money, chasing the USNWR dragon, all for hopes that biglaw and A3 clerkships might hire five of their grads per year while 90% of the class languishes. They should charge 10K per year and train lawyers to work at Philly DA, public defender, or at small firms.

lablankita wrote:Yes, Drexel is still TTT and getting a degree from any TTT leads to questionable job prospects in any city, but a partner at Reed Smith in Philadelphia told me that Drexel is doing all the right things for a new school and is getting somewhere. He has hired Drexel grads and says that their people meet with his people fairly regularly for job placement purposes. I don't know anything about Syracuse, maybe they do the same thing. If you want to work in Philadelphia, Drexel might not be a bad idea. I'm considering them too because they're giving me a lot of money. Good luck to you!

Seriously? Two people? No biglaw partner is going to tell you to stay away from a school because it sucks. They don't give a shit whether you go and get yourself 200K in debt or not. Reed Smith, Dechert, or any of the other big Philly firms are not hiring outside the top 5% of Drexel.

That Drexel is doing everything "right" for a new school is exactly the problem. It's charging obscene amount of money, chasing the USNWR dragon, all for hopes that biglaw and A3 clerkships might hire five of their grads per year while 90% of the class languishes. They should charge 10K per year and train lawyers to work at Philly DA, public defender, or at small firms.

I'm not saying that Philadelphia biglaw is going to run out and pick Drexel grads over Penn or any other T20 grads. It's kind of a given that you have to be in the top 5% of a TTT school to get somewhere. That's even the case in schools that rank way better. The market isn't great right now and only the strong students will survive. For biglaw firms to be saying that they like where the school is going after only having accreditation for two years is better than nothing. A lot of TTT school grads, even the top 5%, are screwed when they get out. I'm sure OP understands the risks of attending a TTT school or else he/she wouldn't have asked us to help choose between those two and specified to spare the retake advice.

OP the clear choice is Drexel if you want a job in Philly or the surrounding areas, such as West Chester or Media for example, or even farther away in Lancaster, York, or Harrisburg. Since 80% or more of law students are not going to be getting big law or big gov jobs, attending Drexel in Philly, the area you want to be and most likely have contacts, is the correct choice.

FamilyLawEsq wrote:OP the clear choice is Drexel if you want a job in Philly or the surrounding areas, such as West Chester or Media for example, or even farther away in Lancaster, York, or Harrisburg. Since 80% or more of law students are not going to be getting big law or big gov jobs, attending Drexel in Philly, the area you want to be and most likely have contacts, is the correct choice.

Nah, the correct choice is not going to law school until he puts in the work to make it worth the $200,000 it costs.

lablankita wrote:I'm sure OP understands the risks of attending a TTT school or else he/she wouldn't have asked us to help choose between those two and specified to spare the retake advice.

lablankita wrote:Yes, Drexel is still TTT and getting a degree from any TTT leads to questionable job prospects in any city, but a partner at Reed Smith in Philadelphia told me that Drexel is doing all the right things for a new school and is getting somewhere. He has hired Drexel grads and says that their people meet with his people fairly regularly for job placement purposes. I don't know anything about Syracuse, maybe they do the same thing. If you want to work in Philadelphia, Drexel might not be a bad idea. I'm considering them too because they're giving me a lot of money. Good luck to you!

Seriously? Two people? No biglaw partner is going to tell you to stay away from a school because it sucks. They don't give a shit whether you go and get yourself 200K in debt or not. Reed Smith, Dechert, or any of the other big Philly firms are not hiring outside the top 5% of Drexel.

That Drexel is doing everything "right" for a new school is exactly the problem. It's charging obscene amount of money, chasing the USNWR dragon, all for hopes that biglaw and A3 clerkships might hire five of their grads per year while 90% of the class languishes. They should charge 10K per year and train lawyers to work at Philly DA, public defender, or at small firms.

Drexel has a year-long criminal defense field clinic with the public defender. They also have a strong trial advocacy program, and lots of other co-op opportunities. The simple fact is that there are VERY FEW LEGAL JOBS TO BE HAD. Philly DA and PD are not hiring, or if they are, they only hired a few new attorneys. The PD's office only hired one new grad last year. This straight from the horse's mouth.

How is that Drexel's fault exactly?

And FYI the Tuition is lower than most other private schools, if only by a few thousand. All law schools are absurdly expensive. Cut off the unlimited federally-backed student loan funding and the prices will come down.

lablankita wrote:Yes, Drexel is still TTT and getting a degree from any TTT leads to questionable job prospects in any city, but a partner at Reed Smith in Philadelphia told me that Drexel is doing all the right things for a new school and is getting somewhere. He has hired Drexel grads and says that their people meet with his people fairly regularly for job placement purposes. I don't know anything about Syracuse, maybe they do the same thing. If you want to work in Philadelphia, Drexel might not be a bad idea. I'm considering them too because they're giving me a lot of money. Good luck to you!

Seriously? Two people? No biglaw partner is going to tell you to stay away from a school because it sucks. They don't give a shit whether you go and get yourself 200K in debt or not. Reed Smith, Dechert, or any of the other big Philly firms are not hiring outside the top 5% of Drexel.

That Drexel is doing everything "right" for a new school is exactly the problem. It's charging obscene amount of money, chasing the USNWR dragon, all for hopes that biglaw and A3 clerkships might hire five of their grads per year while 90% of the class languishes. They should charge 10K per year and train lawyers to work at Philly DA, public defender, or at small firms.

Drexel has a year-long criminal defense field clinic with the public defender. They also have a strong trial advocacy program, and lots of other co-op opportunities. The simple fact is that there are VERY FEW LEGAL JOBS TO BE HAD. Philly DA and PD are not hiring, or if they are, they only hired a few new attorneys. The PD's office only hired one new grad last year. This straight from the horse's mouth.

How is that Drexel's fault exactly?

And FYI the Tuition is lower than most other private schools, if only by a few thousand. All law schools are absurdly expensive. Cut off the unlimited federally-backed student loan funding and the prices will come down.

It's Drexel's fault because they charge obscene amounts of money when they know that most of their graduates aren't getting jobs that will allow them to pay back the obscene amounts of money in a reasonable time. If there are no jobs for their graduates, the least they can do is charge them 10K per year so when they get out of law school and have to choose between 30K ID or small law and going back to the Asst Manager position at Denny's they aren't doing it with crippling debt. It would probably make them MORE COMPETITIVE when every other school in the market charges 35K+ or 40K. But of course that would defeat the whole purpose of the school which is to make money for tenured profs and deans.

Nobody gives a shit about their Trial Ad program or their placement wouldn't be so terrible. If you can't get a job as the lawyer then spending 40K to learn trial ad skills is a waste of time and money.

I don't care that tuition is "slightly lower" than Temple or Nova- shoot me in the face with a derringer or a .45 and I'm still probably dead.

lablankita wrote:Yes, Drexel is still TTT and getting a degree from any TTT leads to questionable job prospects in any city, but a partner at Reed Smith in Philadelphia told me that Drexel is doing all the right things for a new school and is getting somewhere. He has hired Drexel grads and says that their people meet with his people fairly regularly for job placement purposes. I don't know anything about Syracuse, maybe they do the same thing. If you want to work in Philadelphia, Drexel might not be a bad idea. I'm considering them too because they're giving me a lot of money. Good luck to you!

Seriously? Two people? No biglaw partner is going to tell you to stay away from a school because it sucks. They don't give a shit whether you go and get yourself 200K in debt or not. Reed Smith, Dechert, or any of the other big Philly firms are not hiring outside the top 5% of Drexel.

That Drexel is doing everything "right" for a new school is exactly the problem. It's charging obscene amount of money, chasing the USNWR dragon, all for hopes that biglaw and A3 clerkships might hire five of their grads per year while 90% of the class languishes. They should charge 10K per year and train lawyers to work at Philly DA, public defender, or at small firms.

Drexel has a year-long criminal defense field clinic with the public defender. They also have a strong trial advocacy program, and lots of other co-op opportunities. The simple fact is that there are VERY FEW LEGAL JOBS TO BE HAD. Philly DA and PD are not hiring, or if they are, they only hired a few new attorneys. The PD's office only hired one new grad last year. This straight from the horse's mouth.

How is that Drexel's fault exactly?

And FYI the Tuition is lower than most other private schools, if only by a few thousand. All law schools are absurdly expensive. Cut off the unlimited federally-backed student loan funding and the prices will come down.

It's Drexel's fault because they charge obscene amounts of money when they know that most of their graduates aren't getting jobs that will allow them to pay back the obscene amounts of money in a reasonable time. If there are no jobs for their graduates, the least they can do is charge them 10K per year so when they get out of law school and have to choose between 30K ID or small law and going back to the Asst Manager position at Denny's they aren't doing it with crippling debt. It would probably make them MORE COMPETITIVE when every other school in the market charges 35K+ or 40K. But of course that would defeat the whole purpose of the school which is to make money for tenured profs and deans.

Nobody gives a shit about their Trial Ad program or their placement wouldn't be so terrible. If you can't get a job as the lawyer then spending 40K to learn trial ad skills is a waste of time and money.

I don't care that tuition is "slightly lower" than Temple or Nova- shoot me in the face with a derringer or a .45 and I'm still probably dead.

EDIT - Instate tuition at temple is significantly cheaper.

When I went to the accepted students day they skirted around all my questions on employment and the reception of their coop programs.

Also, in my research of Philly big law, the two reed smith associates were the only drexel alum I could find in Philly big law.

A lot of people think that Drexel will break into T2 soon, but it's just too much of a risk. Plus their full ride isn't really that - its giving you the full tuition at your first year's rate per credit. Therefore, if tuition increases by $2000 from one year to the next and you have the "full ride" you have to pay that difference of $2000.

nick417 wrote:A lot of the people on here are just bitter losers who have to much free time and decide to just bash every law school. I wouldn't pay much attention to them. If your goal is to land a $+100,000/yr job, maybe you should re-think going to law school. IF you want to learn an excellent skill, and make a modest living, law school is a good option. To many people assume law is a meal ticket to being rich. I think that is why so many negative people are on this forum and just bash it.

I live and work in the legal profession in the Philadelphia area. I know people who have recently graduated from Widener (a low Tier 4 school) and have found nice jobs working as lawyers. Drexel, from what I have heard, is on the up and up. It is a Tier 3 school, but should move up into second Tier. If you have a good scholarship offer to Drexel, and want to work in the Philadelphia area, Drexel isn't a bad option. Philadelphia is home to the Eastern District of PA, one of the largest federal district court's in the country. It is also home to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. Syracuse on the other hand appears to me to be in the middle of no where (please correct me if I am wrong). I think Buffalo might be near Syracuse but not sure what that means. Syracuse is also expensive for a law school. I would say no to Syracuse.

Your anecdotes are not data. What about the number of utterly screwed Widener (or Drexel) grads that you don't see for every successful Widener grad you come across? This thread might be unpleasant to read for you as a Drexel applicant, but the truth is not always pleasant.

By the way, the fact that in other posts you evaluate Michigan State and Villanova on the basis of their USWNR rankings shows that you have essentially no knowledge of how legal hiring works, and thus have nothing useful to contribute to other applicants in the way of advice.

This thread delivers. If someone is going to sign up for financial ruin and debt slavery, I'd prefer it be an idiot who actually encountered all of the information needed to make an intelligent decision than an idiot who didn't do adequate research.

Ti Malice wrote:This thread delivers. If someone is going to sign up for financial ruin and debt slavery, I'd prefer it be an idiot who actually encountered all of the information needed to make an intelligent decision than an idiot who didn't do adequate research.

Bingo. Good way to put it.

And with that, I'm taking this thread out behind the shed. Its served its purpose, whatever that may have been.